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Tom Kaulitz
Tom Kaulitz is the guitarist of Tokio Hotel. He was born on 1 September 1989 in Leipzig, Germany. His identical twin brother is Bill Kaulitz, who is younger by ten minutes, and who is also the singer of the band. Personal life Before Tokio Hotel When he and his brother were seven, their parents, Simone and Jörg Kaulitz, separated. Soon after Simone started dating Gordon Trümper, the guitarist of the german rock band Fatun ''and they married after twelve years of dating, in 2009. Since an early age that Tom showed interest in playing the guitar, as did Bill in singing, and in several interviews, Bill claims that he and Tom started writing songs since the age of seven. When Gordon Trümper noticed their musical inclinations, he helped the both to start their own band. After Tokio Hotel Trouble came for the twins when in late 2008/early 2009 several female stalkers pursued the band relentlessly, even following Tom to his parents' home in Germany and attacked the twins' mother. The issue seemed to end after Tom allegedly hit one of the stalkers at a gas station in April 2009 and drove off. However, an article in Bild stated that the issue had resurfaced and that Tom could stand trial for assault. In late December 2009, the charges against Tom were lifted and he pressed charges himself—against the girl he allegedly hit—on grounds of stalking. Bill and Tom used to live in Hamburg but moved to Los Angeles in October 2010 in response to an incident involving stalkers and a robbery. They have also stated that it is easier for them to create their new album, as it is closer to their manager David Jost. They are currently living in Los Angeles but also have a home in Hamburg. Musical Career Beginning of the band At the age of ten, the brothers began performing live in Magdeburg, near their hometown, Loitsche. They played small shows and while their audiences enjoyed them, they were still unknown. The band lacked a drummer and a bass player and the twins relied on a keyboard to fill in other instrumental sounds. The year the brothers turned twelve, they met Georg Listing (then 14) and Gustav Schäfer (then 13), in the audience of one of their shows. Listing and Schäfer were friends and after the show, having liked what they heard and saw, made an offer to join. The band was promptly renamed "Devilish" due to an article published at the time that referred to their "devilishly great" sound. The four continued to perform, but aside from being featured on a small-time German news program somewhere between late 2002 and early 2003, Devilish were not going anywhere until his twin brother Bill auditioned on the reality TV talent show "Star Search." 1st album - ''Schrei (2005) This continued until 2005 when David Jost, their manager, arranged a meeting between the band and Universal Music Group's Interscope Records and Tokio Hotel was signed. They began working immediately, releasing their debut LP Schrei later that year. Their first single from Schrei was "Durch den Monsun", which reached #1 in Germany within a month of its release. Tokio Hotel launched their debut tour in Germany, to support the release of Schrei and its singles. They toured Germany and also recorded a live DVD. 2nd album - Zimmer 483 (2007) Tokio Hotel were a household name in Germany at this point, and this compelled the band to return to the studio. After the success of Schrei, Tokio Hotel began working on their second album, Zimmer 483, released in February 2007. The album spawned three singles initially: "Übers Ende der Welt", "Spring nicht", and "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)". A fourth single, "Heilig", was released in 2008. To support the release of Zimmer 483, Tokio Hotel began a continental tour of Europe, spawning another live DVD and a large publicity boost. 3rd album - Scream ''(2008) As Tokio Hotel's fanbase increased in the Western part of the world, the band decided to re-record selected songs from both ''Schrei and Zimmer 483 for a new English-language LP so that fans around the world could understand the band's songs. The result of these re-recorded songs was Tokio Hotel's debut English album, titled Scream. The album was released in Europe in mid-2007 (albeit with the name Room 483, the literal translation of Zimmer 483, to express its continuity with that album), however it did not reach release in the West until mid-2008. Scream spawned four singles, including "Scream", "Monsoon", "Don't Jump" and "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translated versions of "Schrei", "Durch den Monsun", "Spring Nicht" and "Übers Ende der Welt", respectively). Scream was moderately successful internationally, and to support the release, Tokio Hotel left Europe for the first time in their career, and flew to the United States. In February 2008, Tokio Hotel first set foot in North America to play five shows, starting in Canada and ending in New York. Tokio Hotel were the first German act since Nena to gain success internationally, and maintain their status. The U.S. tour was a success, but when they went back to Europe for their 1000 Hotels Tour, disaster struck. The 1000 Hotels Tour began in Brussels, Belgium, on 3 March 2008, and was set to continue through the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, ending on the 9 April. However eleven days after the start of the tour, on 14 March, Bill began to experience voice problems in the middle of a show in Marseilles, France. He let the audience sing more often and the band cut their set down from twenty-one to sixteen songs. Two days after the incident in France, Tokio Hotel cancelled a show in Lisbon, Portugal moments before it started. The band, with the exception of Bill, came on the stage and apologized for the show being cancelled. They explained that Bill was sick and was flying back to Germany to see a specialist: he had played forty-three shows without a break and had developed an untreated throat infection. The infection caused a cyst to develop on the singer's vocal cords that had to be removed via larynx surgery on 30 March. Bill was unable to speak for ten days afterwards and had to undergo speech therapy for one month. By May 2008, Bill had sufficiently recovered and Tokio Hotel rescheduled the 1000 Hotels Tour dates, adding several open air concerts. The tour concluded on 13 July 2008 in Werchter, Belgium, and, despite the surgery and time taken off, it was deemed a success. 4th album - Humanoid (2009) Over 2008 and 2009, Tokio Hotel returned to the recording studio to record their second English album and third German album. The result was Humanoid, which was a much more techno-oriented release and a new sound. Humanoid was released on October 6, 2009, and just short of a month later Tokio Hotel picked up the "Best Group" award at the EMAs in Berlin on November 5. The album had two versions - the English version and the German version. Humanoid spawned various hit singles like "Automatic" ("Automatisch", in the German version), "Darkside of the Sun" and "World Behind My Wall". 5th album - Kings of Suburbia (2014) Kings of Suburbia is the most recent album of Tokio Hotel since Humanoid. After taking a long break, Bill and Tom decided to start working on a new album. In January 2013, Tom confirmed that the album would be released that year, and during the MTV's Musical March Madness 2013 Tournament, the band promised to release their new album "if they repeat as March Madness Champs". Although they did not win the award, and despite their inactivity, the band managed to gather a considerable amount of support from their fanbase. Once again, the band announced that they were planning to release a new single on October 27, 2013 and the album the following month. However, neither the album nor any new singles were released during that year. On January 22, 2014 the band's producer, Peter Hoffman, announced that recording for the new album had been completed and that they were in the process of selecting the track list. He stated that there was no release date yet, but the album would come out later in 2014. On April 3 the band informed their fans via Facebook and Twitter about their recent website update, which included an official video teaser of them working on their upcoming album and never-before-seen photos of the members. After the comeback of Tokio Hotel TV, the band announced on Twitter that the album had been finished and was currently in the hands of the label. On September 3, 2014 Bill announced via his Instagram account that the name of the new album would be Kings of Suburbia and it would be released on October 3. The album was released in three versions on the established date and was number one in 30 countries and in TOP 5 in 17 more countries. Parallel work In 2010, the band teamed up with the Estonian singer Kerli to record the song Strange for the film Alice In Wonderland and accompanying Almost Alice soundtrack. Bill and Tom modeled for a PETA.de photoshoot, protesting against the use of animals as a source of entertainment. Car maker Audi hired both Bill and Tom to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV and also in a commercial. On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial. Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week. Bill and Tom appeared as jury members on the 10th season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of the American singing contest, American Idol, which broadcasted from January 5 until May 11, 2013.